A Mexican lawmaker is asking authorities to bar gay weddings from public spaces, arguing it confuses children in a state that just approved same-sex civil unions. Colima state lawmaker Rafael Mendoza reportedly said mothers complained to him after witnessing a wedding of two men in the main plaza of the city of Cuauhtemoc.
According to the Associated Press, Mendoza said that society is not ready to watch gay weddings, saying the mothers didn’t know what to tell their kids when the two men dressed in charro suits kissed.
We have an idea, Mendoza. Some men marry other men. Kids know true love when they see it, and they’re completely accepting until their family unit or society teaches them how to discriminate.
Luckily, a rival political group said it plans to file a human rights complaint this week charging Mendoza with discrimination. Even his own party, the Democratic Revolution Party, asked him to take back the comments, since the leftist party has championed gay marriages in Mexico.
Mendoza said he is giving up his party leadership in the state congress because he didn’t do anything wrong. He said he is representing his constituents and voicing their concerns.
‘‘He is discriminating,’’ said Cuauhtemoc Mayor Indira Vizcaino. ‘‘He is claiming that it creates a bad image for children and young people to have these gay weddings in public.’’
Colima’s legislature voted in May to approve a change in the state’s constitution to create same-sex civil unions. The law provides gay couples with numerous social benefits similar to those of married couples, but Colima still restricts marriage to a man and a woman.
The city of Cuauhtemoc has pushed for making gay marriage legal, and the mayor says 35 same-sex couples have held civil union ceremonies so far and more than a dozen are to come.
Currently, same-sex marriages are allowed in Mexico only in Mexico City and in the southern state of Oaxaca. The northern state of Coahuila began allowing same-sex civil unions in 2007.
Photo: BlackTomato.com
